


Thetis' Soliloquy

by naturedust



Category: The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller
Genre: And finally reflects on her own impossible death, M/M, Then she reflects on Achilles' impending death, Thetis reflects on Patroclus' death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:55:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28198023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naturedust/pseuds/naturedust
Summary: Thetis reflects on Patroclus' death. (a poem)
Relationships: Achilles & Patroclus (Song of Achilles), Achilles/Patroclus (Song of Achilles)
Kudos: 32





	Thetis' Soliloquy

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! I wrote this for class and wanted to share it in its uncut form. There's a few bits that are headcanons... I really admire Patroclus and Achilles' characters and their relationship, and I feel strongly about a lot of things from Madeline Miller's masterpiece, as well as the Iliad itself. I hope you enjoy this poem! I wrote it to explore Thetis' perspective and humanise her a bit more...

In the end Zeus tears the sun away from the clouds

and I realise one of the mortals is a god.

Most fall like diving birds chasing a bled-out underworld

finally blossomed with pierced flesh shields & carcasses from both sides

but the forecast best of men holds my son in his final breath. Patroclus

you are unmoving when he begs the earth to bury him too.

His soiled sobs trickle into your upturned palms

and you watch as he rips the gilded locks from his temple

your name spilling like the red river that begins searching

at his scalp. He pounds the ground until it is set ablaze

and you rise to sweep gentle fingers past his ashen forehead.

You cannot reach him so he seizes the dagger

it glints against his throat for a moment

then some mortal wrenches it from him.

My son almost belongs in Olympus

but he mistakes your brown eyes for everything Patroclus your hands

are turning as blue as the sea. I watch you draw close to him

like a moth to a flame. I knew you would from the beginning.

I hated the honest flow of blood in you.

You flinched when you speared your first Trojan

cradling their shell long after their spirit shed it

the same way my son embraces you now

rocking you in his arms as if you are asleep.

I heard you murmur as you smoothed salves over cracked skin

messily peeled from the bodies thrashing like fish out of water.

I remember you warm & blind on Mount Pelion

as you gazed directly into my son. Then he lets you

into Phthia and I am glad you will be dead.

Now you are cold & he is an echo

of you healing other men he let die.

Two gaping holes blades burrowed into

where he should hear your heart

cheating this to meet his own

missing

Patroclus. I know you are too honest to do it.

He seals your wounds

and makes sure that tomorrow

Achilles will be dead too.

He beats out the last flickers from his eyes

and keeps them coal-black like mine.

I cannot smile. He lifts your broken body

onto his bed and keeps you there

until songs will only sing of him with you.

The wind holds its breath

for how he will run cold tomorrow for Hector’s life.

I cannot move

when Achilles gathers the dirt into his eyes

and presses his face into your hands.

My son’s hoarse howling splits

me into pieces and pieces. I am feathers

plucked from the foolish bird

plunging, the scared giant squatting beside Zeus

the wisps of grey clouds torn apart

from the sun’s firm embrace

stolen as young as Achilles will be.

It is my fault when his knees stiffen

as he kneels next to you. I am to blame

when he slumps flat against the earth

and sharp rocks graze his cheeks and blood

spills instead of ichor.

My son hiccups. His chest heaves

and I echo him.

Thetis. I

enter the emptied ocean

kneel on my sea-bed

and wish for the first time

I could die

too.


End file.
